Fluid simulation of plasma characteristics in radio frequency ion thrusters
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摘要:
为研究射频离子推力器放电室内的感应耦合等离子体（ICP）的特性及其对推力器性能的影响，针对射频离子推力器放电室，建立了二维轴对称流体模型，采用5阶加权本质无振荡（WENO）格式与时域有限差分法（FDTD）分别求解流场方程和电磁场方程。计算了自主设计的3 cm直径推力器放电室内的等离子体特性。模拟结果显示，轴向和径向的感生磁场、角向感生电场和角向感应电流的相互耦合是维持放电室内ICP的主要原因。在维持ICP的加热机制中，随机加热与欧姆加热均占重要地位，且随射频功率的增加，随机加热功率占总加热功率的比例随之增加。通过增大射频功率，推力器的束电流和推进剂利用率随之上升，但电效率会有所下降。通过增大推进剂流量，推力器束电流也会有所上升，但推进剂利用率会逐渐下降。
Abstract:The characteristics of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in the discharge chamber of a radio frequency ion thruster were studied as crucial factors affecting the thruster’s performance. A two-dimensional axisymmetric fluid model was developed for the radio frequency ion thruster discharge chamber. The simulation utilized a fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method to solve the flow and electromagnetic field equations, respectively. Plasma characteristics inside the self-designed 3 cm diameter thruster discharge chamber were calculated. The simulation results indicated that the coupling of axial and radial induced magnetic fields, tangential induced electric fields, and tangential induced electric currents contributed mainly to maintaining ICP in the discharge chamber. In the heating mechanism of sustaining ICP, both random heating and Ohmic heating could play significant roles, and with an increase in radio frequency power, the proportion of random heating power to total heating power also increased. By increasing the radio frequency power, the beam current and propellant utilization efficiency of the radio frequency ion thruster rose, but the electrical efficiency decreased. Increasing the propellant flow rate led to an increase in thruster beam current but a gradual decrease in propellant utilization efficiency.
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图 1 射频离子推力器放电室工作示意图
Figure 1. Schematic of operational process of radio frequency ion thruster discharge chamber
图 5 数值模拟、实验测量与点源模型束电流密度对比
Figure 5. Comparison of beam current density obtained from simulation, experiment, and point source model
图 6 放电室内轴向磁感应强度Bz分布在1个射频周期内的变化
Figure 6. Axial magnetic induction intensity Bz distribution in the discharge chamber within one period
图 7 放电室内角向感生电场强度$ {E_\theta } $分布在1个射频周期内的变化
Figure 7. Azimuthal induced electric field intensity $ {E_\theta } $ distribution in the discharge chamber within one period
图 8 推力器放电室中角向等离子体电流密度${j_\theta }$分布在1个射频周期内的变化
Figure 8. Azimuthal plasma current density ${j_\theta }$ distribution in the discharge chamber within one period
图 9 放电室等离子体加热机制占比情况
Figure 9. Proportion of heating mechanisms in the plasma of discharge chamber
图 10 周期平均的等离子体吸收功率密度分布
Figure 10. Averaged plasma absorption power density distribution over one cycle
图 11 放电室中功率消耗及放电损耗随射频功率的变化
Figure 11. Variation of power consumption and discharge loss with radio frequency power in discharge chamber
图 16 放电室中电子温度和等离子体数密度随射频功率的变化
Figure 16. Variations in electron temperature and plasma number density with radio frequency power in the discharge chamber
图 17 推力器束电流和效率随射频功率的变化
Figure 17. Variation of thruster beam current and efficiency with radio frequency power
图 18 放电室中电子温度和等离子体数密度随推进剂流量的变化
Figure 18. Variations of electron temperature and plasma number density with propellant flow rate in the discharge chamber
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